Déjà Vu
by NaijaChiqa
Summary: SethMarissa. Future. AU. Season 1. Will Marissa let her baggage to keep her from seeing what else might be out there?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Well, it's not that easy staying away. As I am not aware of what's currently happening on the show, I guess this can be considered AU because it's based on Season 1 and a few manipulations/retellings of some things that happened in the earlier part of Season 2 – it will become clearer as the story develops.

Pairing: Seth/Marissa

Genre: Simple romance.

Rating: PG

Length: Multi-chapter.

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Marissa pulled her rented Saturn into the driveway and hit the stiff brakes. She'd dreaded this visit, especially because it was so soon after the last one but she really couldn't postpone it. She turned the engine off, slumped into the seat and stared across at the large house next door. She was amazed that she still held such strong but mixed feelings about its inhabitants when a few quick but hard taps on the car window interrupted her thoughts.

She looked up then wound the window down. "Hey, Seth," she said, pasting a smile on her lips.

He bent over, his floppy haircovering his eyes, andsmiled down at her. "Hey. I was wondering who that was."

"Just me," she replied, holding the steering wheel and hoping he'd go away. As she'd only just gotten into town, she wasn't mentally prepared to have any conversations with anyone - especially not one who'd been so close to Ryan.

"I see. The funniest thing is, for a long time, this house practically lay abandoned but this is about the second time this month someone's been here."

"Really?" Marissa unlocked the door while Seth moved back so that she could open it and step out. "Who else has been here?"

"Well, I saw your mom here a few days after the funeral."

"My mom?"

"Yeah. And I could have sworn I saw the light on sometime last year."

"Last year?"

He nodded.

"Hmm…" That was certainly interesting. She hadn't moved all her things to Caleb's house because her mother said "a new house needs new things," but she suspected that Julie never sold the place because she needed a back-up in case her marriage to Caleb fell through. But since they were still together,Marissacouldn't understand what she'd be doing in it.

She sighed, deciding not to waste so much energy thinking about her mother then walked over to the trunk and pulled out a small bag.

Seth raised his brow. "That's all?"

Marissa nodded.

"I guess you're not staying long."

She shook her head. "No."

Not knowing what was appropriate, he said, "Cool."

Marissa looked over at the house. "I don't know why it took me so long to collect the rest of my things but … I guess I've run out of excuses."

"Excuses?"

"Oh, forget it." She looked warily at him, hoping that her smile didn't look as fake as it felt.

Noticing her discomfort, Seth shook his head solemnly. "Once again, I'm really sorry about your Dad. He was such a great guy. Remember when your mom used to go on her trips and he'd bring you and Kaitlin over for dinner every night?"

"Yeah?"

"I was only wondering if you remembered."

She shook her head, chuckled and headed for the house. Seth was fast at her heels.

"So you're going to be staying here alone?"

She smiled back at him."Yeah."

"Do you remember Rosa?"

"Why? You just want to know if I remember?"

He made a face. "No, I am serious. Do you remember her?"

Marissa dropped the bag, found the right key, pushed it into the hole and pushed the door in. She was met with the stale scent of a furnished but unused house. Seth picked up her bag and followed her in.

She turned round to him. "You know what? If this was a movie, all the furniture would be covered up with long sheets, light would seep in through the drapes and it'ld be so dramatic."

"Yeah…," he said, onlynoticing how big and empty the place looked with just the two of them in it. "About Rosa…"

"What about her?"

"She makes great breakfast."

"Okay…?"

"And you could always do something for lunch."

"Ah-ha…?"

"And my mother is really great at ordering dinner."

"Good to know."

He shook his head in frustration. "My point is, there's no reason for you to go grocery shopping and cook when you're alone. In fact, there's no reason to stay here – I'm sure my parents would be glad to let you stay with us. In fact, the pool house…" His face turned red as he realized what he almost said. In attempt to undo the faux-pas, he added, "My house is pretty amazing – we've got room, food, drinks, clean furniture…"

"_And Ryan and all the memories I wish I'd forgotten_," she thought.

"… and hell, you don't even have to clean after yourself – my Dad would gladly do it," he joked.

She appreciated what he was trying to do for her but if she was going to accomplish what she'd set out to do, she knew she couldn't allow for any distractions. It was going to be a clean visit -she'd be in and out in less than two days. She took her bag from him, dropped it in front of the kitchen and walked it.

"Seth, aren't you too old to still be living with your parents?" she called.

"No, I'm an artist. Besides, I like to think that they are living with me. They really wouldn't know what to do with themselves if I left."

"Sure," she said, walking out with two glasses of water. "I'm sorry this is all I have," she said, holding a glass out to him, "but I'm even surprised that the taps are still running – I guess my mother keeps paying the utilities."

"I guess." He took the glass and looked at its contents suspiciously.

Marissa walked past him, dusted the couch and sat on it. "So you're an artist, huh?"

"Okay, maybe artist is stretching it out a little but I work for the Orange _County Register_. What about you?"

"I'm an Event Planner."

Seth burst out laughing. "Well, I can't say I am surprised –you did party a lot in high school."

A little offended, Marissa set her glass at the foot of the couch and frowned. "It is very hard work, you know? A lot of people come over to Hawaii to get married. And let's not talk about all the companies and organizations that come over for their numerous conventions. I have to make sure that not only does everything look flawless, everything has to BE flawless – and that takes work."

"Okay, I was only kidding."

After a few moments of awkward silence, Seth decided to do the honorable thing and leave. He looked at his watch and said, "I have to go now. I'm going to tell my parents you're around so be prepared to be forced to stay at our place tonight."

Marissa smiled. "Whatever."

"Bye," he said, walking out of the house and wishing there was something he could do to make her feel better.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I was just looking at the other chapter and I can see that the website messed up some of the formatting. Oh well.

Unfortunately, I'll be without a computer for a while so I don't know when next I'll be updating. Thanks for reading.

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Marissa reluctantly opened her eyes when the loud and persistent beeping sound of her alarm clock interrupted her sleep. She'd decided that she was going to ignore jet-lag and live like she was still in Hawaii- after all, she'd had no plans to stay in Newport for long… till she looked around the house. If she'd realized how much work needed to be done, she might not have made the trip at all. Other than going through all the junk in the basement and the attic, she had to figure out what furniture she could rightfully claim as hers or her fathers and what to do with the said items. Discouraged, she reluctantly crawled out of bed and went into the bathroom for a shower.

She was towel-drying her hair when she heard a voice calling her from downstairs. "What?" she screamed.

"Breakfast," Seth called back.

Suddenly realizing how hungry she was, she threw the towel on her bed and joined him.

"I couldn't remember if you were a carnivore or not so I brought donuts and coffee."

"Thanks," she said, picking out a jelly donut.

"By the way," he said, looking back at the door, "you might want to consider locking the doors at night."

Marissa shrugged as she walked over to the couch. She hadn't intentionally left the doors unlocked but at that moment, she was almost open to having burglars come in and help lighten her workload.

Seth sat beside her and they sat in silence as they both sipped their coffee. Marissa put her coffee down, cleared her throat, then turned to him. "No work for you today?"

Seth mock-frowned. "Already trying to get rid of me?"

"Of course not, but it's 10 o'clock on a Tuesday morning. Shouldn't you be at work?"

"Well, I _am_ at work. Have you heard of Mrs. Loretta Von Huff?"

Marissa shook her head – it had been a while since she'd kept up with Newport socialites.

"Well, she's a Texan lady who married rich and is trying to make a name for herself in the community, so she's been setting up a whole bunch of charities and pretty much uses every opportunity to get her name in the papers."

Marissa squeezed the jelly out of her donut then put it in her mouth. "Cool," she said between bites.

"Anyway, I am supposed to be going around interviewing people about the impact she's had and all that shit. So, what do you think of the new community center she's building?"

Marissa looked at him suspiciously. "A community center in Newport? Or you mean country club?"

"No, community center."

Marissa burst into laughter.

"Exactly. Now that I've got that out of the way, I guess I can help you out a little." He put his hands on his waist and looked around the room.

"No," Marissa said, getting up and coloring slightly, "I don't want to keep you from your work – besides, it's very boring and tedious."

"Which is exactly why I should help – you can't get any more boring or tedious than me."

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"Hey you," Marissa said, picking up the flat box and pulling it out to make it up. "If I knew this was your idea of helping, I would have insisted you left."

"You kinda did insist- I just refused to listen." He made himself more comfortable on her bed and reached for the hard-covered book. He ran his finger across the school logo then flipped it open. "I can't believe you kept all our yearbooks."

She shrugged. "Well, I'm organized that like. Could you hand them over to me?"

Seth gave her all but the one he was already looking at. "Oh… high school- where you ignored me for years. I'm still not sure if I should forgive you for that."

"Whatever. You're the one who thought you were better than us – always looking down on us for not 'getting it' or whatever."

"Not true. Till the summer of '03, if our parents weren'tfriends, you wouldn't even have known I existed."

"Again, whatever. But how come you're still deciding if you should forgive me, when you obviously forgave Summer? She treated you worse than I did, not that I am admitting to treating you bad or anything. In fact, Imaintain that I was always nice to you."

"Yeah, right. Besides, it was different with Summer."

"How so?"

"I was in love with her."

"That should make it hurt more, shouldn't it?"

"Of course not. When you're in love with someone, you can forgive anything. Back then, if she's taken a knife and stabbed me in the chest, I would have smiled at her then asked her to do it again." He bobbed his head slowly, "Yeah, that's how pathetic I was."

"No you weren't – you were in love."

"Exactly."

They both smiled at one another then got back to what they were doing.

After a few minutes, Marissa said, "Speaking of Summer, how's she?"

"Well, I haven't heard from her in a while but I think she's fine."

She walked over to the bookshelf and picked up some books. "Damn, you were the one couple I thought would make it."

"You and me both. But when she moved east to stay with her mother… I guess that was the beginning of the end."

Marissa nodded. "Yeah, long distance relationships don't work."

"Speaking of which, when are you leaving?"

"Hopefully tomorrow evening. I have a pharmaceutical meeting on Friday and a wedding on Saturday, so I have to get back soon. Why?"

He shrugged. "Oh, it's Caleb's 75th birthday on Friday and we're having a little thing at the house."

"Oh." She was sure Julie had left a message about it on her voicemail but she pretty much always deleted her mother's messages anyway – for some reason, her father's death had only helped to heighten her dislike for her. "Well, I won't be able to attend."

"I guess not." Seth got on his feet and clapped his hands. "What do you have downstairs? I feel like doing some really manly work."

"But, we haven't finished up here!" she protested. When Seth didn't react, she shook her head, gestured for him to follow her, then went down the stairs.


End file.
